solo with support
by lauran garil
Summary: The team is assigned what seems like a little bit of a strage mission but turns into a life altering chain of events that will leave them wondering if they really see eachother as just a family, or more.
1. Chapter 1

A group of teenagers in military uniforms is being marched in circles around a drill hall by a girl who looks like a young fifteen, another girl who looks a lot alike but is clearly higher rank is standing by observing and taking notes. Suddenly gun shots sounds from down the hall, everyone in the starts and the girl yells "HIT THE DECKK", the entire room drops to the floor just as a masked gunman round the corner armed with a large caliber machine gun. He runs into the room and begins shooting everywhere. There are screams and cries but they are quickly brought down to low moans as the gunman flees out the door. All that is seen is smoke and the outlines of bodies on the floor.

Norfolk

Tony and McGee stand in the middle of the squad room; they both look half asleep and appear to waiting for someone to exit MTAC because of the way they are staring upstairs. The ding of the elevator makes them turn around and Ziva exits the elevator

"why did we just called back in?" Ziva questioned "we just left and I couldn't wait to get some sleep."

"we know as much as you do" tony commented irritably.

There was silence as Ziva dropped into her chair

"I'm going to get a bat nap while I can" she said as she closed her eyes.

Tony and McGee chose to ignore her poor use of words and follow her lead, collapsing into their chairs as well. The moment all their eyes have closed Gibbs exits MTAC; he is walking in his typical Gibbs way, head up, shoulders back, and determination in his step, except now he seemed in a hurry. As he breezed into the bullpen he irritably said

"any time you're ready." All heads snapped up and they all jumped to their feet,

"yes boss?" "Always ready boss" "ready boss".

"We're headed to new Hampshire." He stated, "Our plane leaves in thirty so let's go".

"Wait" Tony questioned, "New Hampshire?"

"You have a problem Dinozo?"

"No boss, none at all".

"I'll brief you on the plane, until then move it" Gibbs said, irritable now.

Private plane

"So what exactly is our assignment?" Tony asked.

"Well, one of my fellow marine's sons is the Commanding officer of a reserve center in New Hampshire and they just had a mass shooting." Gibbs sighed, "He called and asked that I would help, He said it was a special situation".

"How did you convince the director to let us go out of our jurisdiction?" Ziva asked.

"I didn't" Gibbs said while opening a folder, "he sent us".

The team looked at each other in confusion but a meaningful glace from Gibbs sent them all to work. The rest of the plane ride was spent in silence except for the snores of Ziva and Tony.


	2. Chapter 2

Dover airport

As Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva stepped off the plane, (McGee had stayed at NCIS to help Abby) they were greeted by two somber Navy members in their dress blues.

"Thank you so much for coming out on such short notice" the higher ranked of the two said, "After it happened I wanted someone I could trust to take charge of this".

"Of course" Gibbs said while giving him a one armed hug, "And I wouldn't want anything else for you. This is my team" he said as he turned toward Ziva and Tony "special agent David and special agent DiNozzo, they're the best of the best".

Tony and Ziva both looked pleased with this but where promptly put in place by Gibbs bark of "get the gear into the car we have a crime scene waiting", he gestured toward the awaiting black SUV and the two scrabbled to stuff their bags into the rear of the car.

Then turning to the higher ranking of the two officer he said "I'm glad you called." He then looked turned and walked toward the awaiting car with the two officers trailing behind. Ziva and Tony took this as their cue and walked around the car to get in. In the half second before Gibbs and the officers got in Tony turned to Ziva a said hesitantly, "I have a really weird feeling about this one."

"Me too", Ziva sighed, "me too".

After a short ride the team arrived at a naval reserve center, it was small and didn't look like it would normally draw much attention but today there were at least a dozen police cars gathered around and the entire area was secured by concrete barriers and at least thirty men in navy uniforms holding guns and a expressions of sadness and anger on all their faces. As they rolled to a stop at the barrier the younger officer spoke,

"we're considering this a act of terrorism" he then hesitated before continuing, "Also, before you ask, we do have cameras set up around the entire building but they don't show anything we don't already know, the shooters seemed to know where the cameras were."

Gibbs nodded and swung open the door to step out of the car, Ziva and Tony scrabbled to the same almost falling over each other in the process. The three agents then walked around to the back of the SUV to get the gear and then trailed after the two officers toward a door draped in crime tape. Nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to see; the bodies of about fifteen teenagers were scattered around the room and there was blood everywhere. Gibbs looked around the room looking shocked and Ziva stopped in her tracks and just stared at the mass of bodies. Tony was the first to speak,

"Boss" he stammered "you didn't tell us they were _kids_".

"Probably because no one told me" he said turning toward the officers.

"We were afraid that you wouldn't come if you knew! You have to understand that these kids worked harder than some of our people. They were loved around here; they come every single week when other people their age would be out partying and making trouble!"One scrabbled. The other then piped up,

"please, you have to find out who did this and why! They weren't even in the military they were just training their asses off to be there and now they will never get there."

"We're not walking away now, just if there is one more secret we will walk away." Then turning to his still stunned team he barked out orders, "Ziva, I need a list of all those killed and injured. Tony, bag and tag.".

"On it boss" they chimed before heading off to face the first of a long chain of tragedies.


	3. Chapter 3

After 2 hours of grueling work Ziva dashed into the room, breathless and flustered. "Gibbs!" she practically shouted "Gibbs, there's one!"

"One what?" Gibbs asked, skeptical.

"A survivor, the police didn't tell us because she was rushed to the hospital so fast they never knew until now." She panted "they just heard because no parent has showed up yet".

"Well what are you doing? I want you at the hospital where she's at finding out who she is, why she's there, and what she knows." Gibbs stated calmly, but he had a slight smile on his face as did everyone else, after all this was the first good news anyone there had heard since they began the investigation.

"On it" she called over her shoulder as she grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

Exeter Hospital

Ziva strode quickly through the doors of the elevator the moment they were open, marching up to the information desk. The nurse sitting behind the desk looked up, she looked as if she'd worked one too many shifts and her eyes drooped and the corners of her mouth turned downward at the sight of someone approaching.

"I need to see the girl injured in the shooting at a navy reserve center." Ziva demanded.

"Yes, and I need a free trip to Hawaii, but that's not happening either hun." The nurse droned.

Ziva looked irritated and reached for her badge which she whipped out just barley far enough from the woman's face that she didn't break her nose, "I have a gun too if you'd like to see how _that _works" Ziva spat.

"she's in room 419" the nurse said, looking slightly alarmed.

Ziva turned on her heal, muttering something under her breath that may not have been English but was quite apparent it wasn't a compliment. However, when she reached the door of room 419 she slowed down and took a deep breath before turning the knob. When she stepped in the door she saw a young girl, she looked like a young sixteen, lying on a hospital bed, obviously in pain, her short blonde hair was falling out of the bun it was in and was sticking to her neck and forehead, her chest was wrapped in layers of gauze which protruded from the neck of her hospital gown, and she had a look of loss and despair on face that Ziva had never seen before.

"Hi, I'm special agent David from NCIS; I'm here to ask you some questions if that's ok." Ziva said gently.

"Of course" the girl said "go right ahead. But first, is my dad ok?"

"Your dad?" Ziva asked looking surprised.

"Yes" her eyes were getting watery "He was there when i-it all happened, he was in the main office while we were on the drill deck, he's the XO."

"Just a second" Ziva said, standing up from the seat she had just taken, "I'll let you know".

As she walked out of the door she bumped into tony.

"What are you doing here, Gibbs sent _me_" she said, irritated, "I think her father was killed, he was there".

"he was, we checked all the names just now" he fired back "And I'm here because her mother and two little sisters were just killed in a suspicious car accident, there's something going with this girl and either she was a target too and it didn't go as planned, they left her alive on purpose, or"

Ziva cut him off "No!" she practically yelled, "don't say it, I just saw her Tony, I've never seen anyone look like they've lost so much until I saw her. It wasn't her, I just know."

"Okay, then who the hell did this Ziva? We have almost thirty bodies most of which are just _children_ and no idea what's even going on anymore." Tony cried out, exasperated.

"I know" Ziva said falling against the wall "My gut is telling me this girl didn't do anything though and we find out she's lost her entire family…"

"it's all right" Tony sighed, reaching out and taking her hands.

"She reminds me of me at that age, she's broken and afraid to trust" she said.

"Now you're just overtired" Tony laughed as he let go and took a step back becoming serious saying, "Someone is going to tell her that she has no one left though and also that because she is our only witness that she will have to come back with us."

"I'll do it" Ziva said, slipping her mask of no emotion back on, "you should head back to the base, I'll be there as soon as I'm done here" and she turned to enter the room again.

Tony watched her in silence until the door closed silently behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Ziva slowly approached the girls bed again, her mind was spinning. How do I tell her she just lost her entire family in one night? How do I tell her that she has to travel a quarter of the way across the country because she is the only person who saw her entire unit murdered? An how was she supposed to tell her that her life was in danger? Ziva sat down in the same chair she had just left,

"I need some questions answered before a can give you any information." Ziva said, she knew this girl wasn't going to talk after she had learned the depth of her loss. The girl looked frustrated but didn't say anything.

"So first off I haven't gotten your name" Ziva said evenly.

"Sara" the girl, Sara, said.

"alright, Sara, can you tell me just what happened last night?" Ziva leaned forward slightly in her char, waiting for a reply.

Sara took a deep, shaky breath and then began, "I was marching the unit around the drill deck and Elisabeth was evaluating how I did. You see Takem and I are vying for the place of company commander and now he's gone and oh my god the whole unit is gone. Aren't they? They mean as much to me as my family!" as the realization crashed down on Sara a monitor to her side began beeping, as it did so half a dozen nurses and doctors ran into the room.

Ziva got up silently and left the room, leaning on the wall outside the room as she waited for the nurses to leave again.

When the assorted medical personnel finally did leave the room. the same nurse that had been less than pleasant earlier stopped in front of Ziva.

"What were you thinking? She just had a surgery for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. You could have just killed her; luckily we got in there fast enough to replace her stitches." The nurse growled.

"I needed to get her statement, and you may not care but she also doesn't know that her ENTIRE family has been killed. I still need to tell her so get out of my way." Ziva snarled in return.

"doctor's orders, no stress." The nurse looked triumphant with the way she had finally had the chance to one up Ziva.

"I'm calling my boss." Ziva huffed as she stormed away.

A few minutes later Ziva stood in the stairwell talking to Gibbs on her cell phone, she was gripping the phone so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"What am I supposed to do Gibbs? I can't just leave her here thinking her family safe and just haven't been allowed in the hospital yet when they're all really dead!" Ziva exclaimed. she was then silent as Gibbs spoke, running her hand through the top of her hair.

"That's just not right" she said, frustrated, when he was done,

"do they even care about her as a person? Or just a patent that they want out as soon as possible?" she paused for a bit, waiting for Gibbs to finish what seemed to be a lecture then said,

"yes, I know we need her out soon too, no, I won't cause any more trouble with the hospital employees, yes, I'm on my way back."

she snapped the phone shut and then stormed over to the wall which she promptly slammed her fist into, leaving a dent with cracks fleeing from its center.

"המזוין רופאים!" she exclaims then stormed down the stairs and out of the hospital.

**Please review, I love to hear compliments must mostly I need some help to make my stories as good as they can be. Maybe I'll use your ideas and you'll see them put in print. thanks alot :)**


	5. Chapter 5

About thirty minutes after Ziva's outburst she walked into the reserve center where Gibbs and DiNozzo were wrapping up their search for evidence. Gibbs was on his phone; "yes, she'll be fine abbs. Good work." Gibbs snapped his phone shut and turned toward Ziva as Tony moved to join her.

"The girl's father became very rich this morning. He had a 30,000 dollar transfer into his account." Gibbs informed them, "He was also being investigated by Raytheon where he is a lead project manager for selling secrets."

"What are you saying?" Tony asked, "That this is an organized hit?"

"What I'm saying is I want both of you searching their house." Gibbs barked

At 11:43p.m. the two very special agents arrived at a large grey house. The moment they stepped from their car a large dark shape arose from the floor and moved toward to glass front door.

"_What_ is _that_" Ziva asked turning to face Tony. At the sound of her voice the shape began to growl and bark pressing its face up to the glass.

"It looks like dog, or maybe it's a horse." Tony replied as they approached the door "you were the one with the Mossad, you take care of it."

Ziva grinned and reached for her holstered gun.

"Not, like that" Dinozzo said as he grabbed her wrist and looked into her eyes.

"Fine" she said with a smirk, "I got a burger at the hospital that I never ate, we can bribe it into the kennel I see in there."

After sneaking around the back of the house and entering there they finally corralled the large dog into her kennel. Both agents were left panting in a large room with two computers, a television, a grand piano, and toys scattered across the floor.

"I'll get the computers to bring back to Mcgeek and Abby; you head upstairs and find Sara's bed room." Tony said between ragged breathes.

Ziva gave him a disgusted look and stalked up the stairs she reached the top and opened the door in front of her which revealed a bedroom containing a full sized bed with an attached bookcase, a chair, a set of bunk beds, another bookcase, and two dressers both piled high on top with a young girls shoes on one and the other heaps of junk.

"Found the bedroom it looks like Sara shared with her sisters!" Ziva shouted down the stairs before entering the small, cluttered room.

She assumed that Sara, being the oldest girl, would have the larger bed and her assumption was confirmed as she approached the bed and found that the walls had been plastered with pictures of Sara with her shipmates, friends, family, and dozens of dogs. It also had numbers from road races she had run in, a couple dog collars, and various awards and ribbons from track meets, sea cadets, and apparently, dance. Ziva was struck by one picture in particular; it was of Sara and her little sister who according to cards scattered around her bed name was Nicole and was a year younger than Sara. In the picture Sara and Nicole were at a small town fair with their arms wrapped around each other. Much unlike the girl Ziva had just seen this girls cheeks were pink and her lips were curled up in a laughing smile that reached her eyes and made them sparkle in delight unlike the way Sara's eyes had looked dull and flat at the hospital. She was looking over at Nicole with such love that Ziva was reminded of her relationship with Ari before he went rogue. Sighing she pushed past her feelings and noticing a lump under the quilt, as she pulled it back it revealed a black laptop. Taking a step back Ziva realized she had completely forgotten protocol and began snapping pictures as she should have been all along. Wondering the whole time what exactly had happened and how a young, seemingly normal teenage girl had gotten wrapped up in a mess such as the one at hand.

Tony barged into the room about one a.m.

"we're heading back today so we need to hurry up and wrap up here!" He was dripping with eagerness contrary to his usual reluctance to wrap up gathering evidence.

"Why the rush? Ahh, you have a date!" Ziva responded to his odd behavior.

"No" Tony said wistfully then getting back on track added, "but we need to interview Sara's fellow students and then pick her up at the hospital so we're on a time restriction and I haven't slept in days."

"They're releasing her? They were refusing to when I was there." Ziva exclaimed.

"Well I'm pretty sure Ducky used a different approach then you did with your crazy killer skills!" he replied, whipping his arms around and standing on one leg which resulted with him flat on his face on the floor.

Ziva laughed and walked toward the door, "finish up here and I'll get the evidence to the car and then we can grab a coffee and breakfast before heading to the school to interview her friends." She called over her shoulder.

Tony just moaned from the carpet his face was smushed in, in response.

Two hours later, after nearly crashing the car on the thin curvy roads known to New Hampshire more times than Tony was comfortable with they arrived at a small all night diner.

"You almost killed us!" Tony sputtered as he stepped from the car.

"Almost" Ziva huffed, "doesn't mean anything"

"well in my book it does! I'm driving until we're out of this awful state."

Ziva shot him and evil glare and ripped open the door to the diner but didn't say anything. After being served black coffee that smelled like it had been charred by a young blonde waitress who looked like she had partied a bit too hard before coming to do her shift Tony leaned forward and looked at Ziva. "What?" she exclaimed raising her hands in the air.

"You have that look in your eyes that says you're thinking of something painful." Tony said, worried.

"There's nothing wrong." Ziva said protectively, suddenly becoming engrossed in her coffee.

"Yes there is!" Tony said, obviously worried.

Ziva looked up, her eyes red. "She just has been through a lot and there's nothing we can do to help."

"We can catch whoever did this." Tony said reaching over to touch Ziva's hand. "And then make sure this never happens to her again."

The waitress arrived at that moment with their meal and placed in front of them. Before beginning Tony began he looked up at Ziva,

"really, we will get this killer. No matter what it takes." He said tenderly and then bent over to begin his meal.

**Sorry for the slow update, I came down with the flu. As usual Please reveiw, I really would love to see where you want this story to go and how you like it so far. Even it's it as much as to let me know I forgot a comma. Thanks guys :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Hours later, and after a fight with the tight lipped office worker, Tony and Ziva were seated in a small room belonging to Sara's guidance councilor. It was 7 in the morning and students were just now arriving, bringing with them the dull of voices and occasional laughter. It had been two days since the shooting Saturday night and it was now Monday so most the students they saw passing by the doorway looked displeased with the end of their weekend. Both agents were silent, their thoughts, the same."What will we find when talking to Sara's friends?"These were really their only living breathing links left to Sara and they were both nervous. What they found today would point their investigation toward or away from Sara. However their thoughts were cut off by the arrival of a middle aged woman's entrance of the room.

"Good morning" she said, extending her hand to be shaken, "my name is Mrs. Nay. I'm sorry for the wait, we had a bit on a crisis but anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Saturday evening there was a shooting at a local youth organization. The only survivor was one of your students, Sara Larin. We need to learn as much about her from both you and her fellow students." Tony said quietly

"Of course," the councilor said drawing in a shaky breath, "but is she alright?"

"Yes, she's fine, but we really do need to know about her." Ziva pushed.

"Yes, of course." Nay said, "She switched schools here last year and the adjustment been hard on her. She gets either A's or F's in school depending on if she does the work or not. She is a really sweet girl who has all her goals set and planned. I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you thanks to the student confidence contract." Nay was leaning forward in her chair, her brow furrowed in worry.

"We need to know it all!" Tony said forcefully, "you are the only link we have left to her life, her entire family is dead!"

"fine." The councilor looked at them both; "but you tell anyone it came from me I'll lose my job."

They nodded and she continued on in a whisper, frequently glancing toward the door.

"Sara was abused. She only reported it once saying that her father had violently attacked her and her mother had kicked him out but he was back so we called social services. But when they questioned her she backed down saying it she had lied for attention but I don't believe her. She was always timid and refused to open up to me."

Tony and Ziva exchanged questioning glances but didn't get to say anything because Mrs. Nay was on her feet.

"Here, I'll let you talk to five of her friends; they might know more."

As they got up to follow her out the door Tony grabbed Ziva's arm.

"I think she really was lying about being abused, if she really was I'm sure they would have found evidence of it and they didn't." Tony hissed

"Or maybe she thought the same thing and thought it would be better not to cause more problems and say it." Ziva hissed back, walking swiftly to catch up with Mrs. Nay who was already partway down the hall and separated by a wall of students.

Mrs. Nay paused to speak with a small blonde girl which gave Tony and Ziva enough time to catchup.

"…and once you've got them meet me in the conference room okay?" Nay was saying. She turned and noticed the two agents were behind her and added, "These are the two special agents. Ziva, Tony, this is Sara's best friend Lily."

"Hi, I've got to get some people for you to talk to other than me, but is Sara alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, she was shot but she's recovering nicely and will be discharged from the hospital today." Tony assured her.

Lily hesitated as a shadow crossed her face as she looked at the councilor, "shot? Thanks for telling me." She said heatedly before rushing down the hall.

Miss Nay sighed and began leading the agents down the same hall they had just come from.

"I don't understand this whole best friend thing." Ziva muttered under her breath to her partner.

"Well of course you don't." Tony joked, "You have to have friends to have best friends." He poked her as he said the last word.

"I have friends!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and glaring at him. "I just mean letting someone that close. Lily is the perfect example, she let people mean the world to her and now her world is being ripped from beneath her feet because of it."

Tony offered up a sad smile in return but nothing else. It was obvious to him that she was thinking of her family that was all but gone now and there was nothing he could do to shake it from her mind.

Nay led them into a small conference room made to look even smaller by the boxes of printer paper and other office supplies piled around the room. After watching to make sure they were seated she excused herself to fill in Sara's friends on the events before sending them in.


End file.
